Monikieliseksi osaajaksi: korkeakoulutaustaisten maahanmuuttaneiden koulutus- ja työelämäpolkuja ja kokemuksia kielestä
On becoming a multilingual expert: skilled migrants’ educational and professional trajectories and lived experiences of language
Keywords:
migrants, Finnish as a second language, higher education, multilingualismAbstract
This study explores the educational and professional trajectories of three skilled migrants in Finland. The aim is to investigate how language-related issues intertwine with the migrants’ individual trajectories to gain a deeper understanding of the kinds of challenges migrants may face in Finnish society. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of nexus analysis and the concept of linguistic repertoire, the study focuses on the participants’ lived experiences of language along their trajectories. The longitudinal data, consisting of interviews over the period of 4.5 years, are analysed using the nexus analytic framework. The findings show that although the participants knew English and studied Finnish successfully, their individual lived experiences of language varied, and their non-straight-forward trajectories were shaped by multiple factors. To support migrants’ agency and their possibilities to participate, we thus need more flexible language policies and practices in higher education as well as a more nuanced understanding of linguistic repertoires.
